Birds of a Feather Flock Together
by MooseForHire
Summary: Still recovering from the incident involving Walter Sullivan, Henry tries to get back to the normal everyday activities. He is none the wiser that the new tenant, Alex Shepherd, is trying to fix his life as well. Eventually Alex/Henry. My First Fic.


Author's Note: Hello everyone welcome to my first fic. UvU I hope you enjoy my horrible writing enough not to hate it. The original title of this one was gonna be "Birds of a Feather Flock Together, As Do Traumatized Men," but it was to long so hopefully this one works too.

* * *

The days were becoming long and monotonous. Plagued with routine they often dragged on into the nights when Henry couldn't sleep in fear of waking up to a door riddled with chains, locking him away from the outside world. Nothing had happened yet, but that wouldn't stop him lying in bed during the early hours of the morning trying to get comfortable so he could let the numbness of sleep wash over him.

The nightmares had dulled. Two every week at the most. He could barely remember them after waking up, and every time he tried a throbbing headache would latch onto his brain forcing him to stop. Maybe the effects of the 21 Sacraments still lingered and it didn't let him recall the events clearly, or he could just be going insane. The latter sounded much better.

Pulling himself out of bed he felt the familiar layer of fog block him from remembering the dreams, or nightmares, he had encountered whilst asleep. Since he was lacking a layer of cold sweat he assumed it wasn't a nightmare. This brightened his mood a bit and he walked into the bathroom to start on his morning routine.

After dressing and getting himself looking presentable he quickly walked into the living room. Looking outside the window he noticed the weather was sunny and there were no clouds in the sky. _No reason to miss work today._ He thought with a audible sigh. He enjoyed work, but sometimes it was just easier to ignore all the lives outside his door. Picking up his bag of camera equipment he passed the kitchen laden with more candles than the normal home, deciding to just get something to eat on the way to his job. Opening the door he looked to his left at room 303 and waved to Eileen, his lips tugging upward as he saw her exiting her apartment as well.

"Henry, hi!" She greeted walking towards him.

"How are you?" Henry asked, noticing that Eileen was wearing a long sleeve shirt. _Her scars..._ He thought a small lump forming in his throat. He was lucky he escaped without the etchings of 21/21 in his back, but Eileen hadn't been so lucky. He was amazed that she still attained her plucky demeanor.

"Fine, fine." She said her eyes darting behind Henry, his heart skiped a beat as his brain thought about what could possibly be behind him. "Did you know that you're getting a new neighbor?" Her tone held a sense of playfulness and he allowed himself to relax.

"No I didn't.. Have you met them?" He asked turning his head around to check behind him. Sure enough, there was a few boxes sitting outside the door of room 301.

"Not yet, at least. Maybe we should greet him. It'll do you good to have a friend other than me." Eileen smiled and grabbed Henry's hand pulling him towards the stairs.

Henry tugged away from her about a door down from the stairway. "I'm good Eileen, I'll meet them later." He said not wanting to get into any more social interactions today. "I have to get to work anyways."

"See ya' then Henry." Eileen said turning away from him. "Besides I have to talk to Frank, my sinks messing up again."

Henry, finally being alone, repositioned his camera bag onto his shoulder and set off for the stairs. After arriving on the first floor he saw a young man carrying several boxes marked with the name "Alex" standing in the entranceway to the building. The new tenant... Thought Henry as he silently passed him by.

There wasn't much about him that intrigued Henry. 'Alex' as he thought his name was, didn't seem that different from the normal everyday bystander. Looking back for a moment Henry surveyed him. He walked with a slight limp. Possibly a war accident judging by his military-like appearance. His hair was a dark brown and cut so it didn't even touch his forehead, almost the complete opposite of his own, and his eyes had semi-permanent bags under them. The only thing that attracted his immediate attention though, was the reddish-brown stains that blotched the beige coloring on his jacket. For some reason it reminded Henry of something. Though he couldn't really put his finger on it.

Walking into the parking lot Henry started up his car and piled inside. As he started to pull out of the lot his mind finally caught on to the thing that those stains were...

Blood.

* * *

Alex didn't know what to expect of his new apartment, South Ashfield Heights as it was called. He was happy with it though. He was happy he was here at all. After escaping Silent Hill Elle, Wheeler, and himself had hopped in a car and booked it out of there. Elle had friends in Ashfield so they all decided to head here. After awhile they had all been able to get jobs. Wheeler of course had joined the local police force, Elle a waitress, and Alex had been working odd jobs to secure enough money to afford a place to live. The rent here was pretty cheap, though he had heard that was because of a incident that had happened a year or so back. No one really wanted to live here, but that was fine with Alex. When he's around people they usually don't have a long lifespan.

Gripping harder onto the boxes that sat on his arms. He headed up the stairs towards room 301.

He didn't have a lot to set up and put away. Some clothes that he had got from his house before leaving, a few pictures that he was probably going to leave in the box, and finally a slightly water damaged Robbie the Rabbit doll. He set it down on the bed for a moment. It looked like it was watching him. Deciding otherwise he took it and shoved it into one of the boxes. Instead of completely unpacking he set the boxes next to his bed in piles that leaned precariously towards the floor.

Alex had woke up early today to get all of his thing today. Trudging himself to the bed he collapsed on it. Closing his eyes, he smiled against the fabric, happy to be getting his life back on track.


End file.
